Supply chain optimization of petroleum organization under uncertainty in market demands and prices

A multi-period stochastic planning model has been developed and implemented for a supply chain network of a petroleum organization operating in an oil producing country under uncertain market conditions. The proposed supply chain network consists of all activities related to crude oil production, processing and distribution. Uncertainties were introduced in market demands and prices. A deterministic optimization model was first developed and tested. The impact of uncertainty on the supply chain was studied by performing a sensitivity analysis in which ±20% deviations were introduced in market demands and prices of different commodities. A stochastic formulation was then proposed, which is based on the two-stage problem with finite number of realizations. The proposed stochastic programming approach proved to be quite effective in developing resilient production plans in light of high degree of uncertainty in market conditions. The anticipated production plans have a considerably lower expected value of perfect information (EVPI). The main conclusion of this study is that for an oil producing country with oil processing capabilities, the impact of economic uncertainties may be tolerated by an appropriate balance between crude exports and processing capacities.     

模糊时间数列的分析与预测:以台湾地区加权股价指数为例

随着我国经济快速成长，衍生性金融商品的投资分析，已成为国内财务数学研究热门课题。以股票市场而言，人们总希望比别人早一步掌握行情的脉动，以获取最高的报酬率，然而，影响股市加权股价指数波动的因素众多，要如何进行趋势分析与预测，是很多学者相当感兴趣与研究的主题。本文考虑以模糊统计方法，作模糊时间数列的趋势分析与预测。其望应用模糊统计分析方法比传统的时间数列分析方法能得到更合理的解释，且预测结果可以提供决策者更多的信息，做出正确的决策。最后以台湾地区加权股票指数为例，做一实证上的详细探讨。     

Fuzzy pricing,marketing and service planning in a fuzzy inventory model: A geometric programming approach

In the real world markets, demand is influenced by different parameters. Recently, many researchers have been interested in integrated production and marketing planning strategies in inventory models where demand depends on different parameters such as price and/or marketing expenditure. The quality of services that are offered to customers of a product is one of the most important parameters that affects demand in the real markets and has not been considered in development of inventory models. On the other hand, the cost parameters in real inventory systems and other parameters such as price, marketing and service elasticity to demand are imprecise and uncertain in nature. So, the notion of fuzziness can be applied to cope with this uncertainty. In this paper, a new fuzzy profit maximization inventory model with shortages is proposed. The demand is considered as a power function of price, marketing expenditure and service expenditure. Furthermore, unit cost is determined as a power function of order quantity. Since the proposed model is in a fuzzy environment, a fuzzy decision should be made to meet the decision criteria, and the results should be fuzzy. Therefore, the proposed model is formulated and solved using geometric programming and fuzzy optimization techniques to derive an approximation of the results’ membership functions. The model is illustrated with a numerical example and finally a case study is provided for evaluation and validation of the results of model.     

A stochastic programming approach for multi-site aggregate production planning

Production planning problems play a vital role in the supply chain management area, by which decision makers can determine the production loading plan—consisting of the quantity of production and the workforce level at each production plant—to fulfil market demand. This paper addresses the production planning problem with additional constraints, such as production plant preference selection. To deal with the uncertain demand data, a stochastic programming approach is proposed to determine optimal medium-term production loading plans under an uncertain environment. A set of data from a multinational lingerie company in Hong Kong is used to demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed model. An analysis of the probability distribution of economic demand assumptions is performed. The impact of unit shortage costs on the total cost is also analysed.     

带有模糊参数的农业生产计划模型

在现实的生产系统中, 由于材料价格, 产品价格, 市场需求以及劳动者能力等不确定因素的影响, 生产计划问题常常是一个不确定规划问题. 因此, 带有常系数的生产计划模型不能准确有效的描述生产决策环境. 基于可信性理论, 本文将提出一类新的带有模糊参数的生产计划模型. 然后, 我们讨论了可信性函数的逼近并且设计一个基于逼近方法、神经网络和遗传算法的启发式算法来求解这个模糊生产计划问题. 最后, 给出了一个数值例子来表明所设计算法的可行性和有效性.     

A fuzzy inventory model without shortages using triangular fuzzy number

In business and industry it becomes very difficult for a manager to take concrete decision regarding inventory, as the data available to him are not always certain. Because uncertainty arises in demand, set-up resources & capacity constraints of an inventory planning system, it could be more justified to consider these factors in an elastic form. Therefore, with these uncertain data, fuzziness can be applied and the problem of inventory can be controlled. In the present paper, an inventory model without shortage has been considered in a fuzzy environment, by considering real-life data from the LPG store of Banasthali University. Triangular fuzzy numbers have been used to consider the ordering and holding costs. For defuzzification, signed-distance method has been used to compute the optimum order quantity.     

Stochastic air freight hub location and flight routes planning

This paper introduced a stochastic programming model to address the air freight hub location and flight routes planning under seasonal demand variations. Most existing approaches to airline network design problems are restricted to a deterministic environment. However, the demand in the air freight market usually varies seasonally. The model is separated into two decision stages. The first stage, which is the decision not affected by randomness, determines the number and the location of hubs. The second stage, which is the decision affected by randomness, determines the flight routes to transport flows from origins to destinations based upon the hub location and realized uncertain scenario. Finally, the real data based on the air freight market in Taiwan and China is used to test the proposed model.     

Two-stage fuzzy production planning expected value model and its approximation method

This work develops a novel two-stage fuzzy optimization method for solving the multi-product multi-period (MPMP) production planning problem, in which the market demands and some of the inventory costs are assumed to be uncertainty and characterized by fuzzy variables with known possibility distributions. Some basic properties about the MPMP production planning problem are discussed. Since the fuzzy market demands and inventory costs usually have infinite supports, the proposed two-stage fuzzy MPMP production planning problem is an infinite-dimensional optimization problem that cannot be solved directly by conventional numerical solution methods. To overcome this difficulty, this paper adopts an approximation method (AM) to turn the original two-stage fuzzy MPMP production planning problem into a finite-dimensional optimization problem. The convergence about the AM is discussed to ensure the solution quality. After that, we design a heuristic algorithm, which combines the AM and simulated annealing (SA) algorithm, to solve the proposed two-stage fuzzy MPMP production planning problem. Finally, one real case study about a furniture manufacturing company is presented to illustrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed modeling idea and designed algorithm.     

A Crop Planning Problem with Fuzzy Random Profit Coefficients

The main purpose of this paper is to present a crop planning problem for agricultural management under uncertainty. It is significant that agricultural managers assign their limited farmlands to cultivation of which crops in a season. This planning is called the crop planning problem and influences their incomes for the season. Usually, the crop planning problem is formulated as a linear programming problem. But there are many uncertain factors in agricultural problems, so future profits for crops are not certain values. A linear programming model with constant profit coefficients may not reflect the environment of decision making properly. Therefore, we propose a model of crop planning with fuzzy profit coefficients, and an effective solution procedure for the model. Furthermore, we extend this fuzzy model, setting the profit coefficients as discrete randomized fuzzy numbers. We show concrete optimal solutions for each models.     

A possibilistic approach to the modeling and resolution of uncertain closed-loop logistics

Closed-loop logistics planning is an important tactic for the achievement of sustainable development. However, the correlation among the demand, recovery, and landfilling makes the estimation of their rates uncertain and difficult. Although the fuzzy numbers can present such kinds of overlapping phenomena, the conventional method of defuzzification using level-cut methods could result in the loss of information. To retain complete information, the possibilistic approach is adopted to obtain the possibilistic mean and mean square imprecision index (MSII) of the shortage and surplus for uncertain factors. By applying the possibilistic approach, a multi-objective, closed-loop logistics model considering shortage and surplus is formulated. The two objectives are to reduce both the total cost and the root MSII. Then, a non-dominated solution can be obtained to support decisions with lower perturbation and cost. Also, the information on prediction interval can be obtained from the possibilistic mean and root MSII to support the decisions in the uncertain environment. This problem is non-deterministic polynomial-time hard, so a new algorithm based on the spanning tree-based genetic algorithm has been developed. Numerical experiments have shown that the proposed algorithm can yield comparatively efficient and accurate results.     

具有惩罚因子的模糊集约生产计划

研究基于模糊环境下的集约生产计划问题,并设计了带有惩罚因子的模糊优化模型,以实现生产费用和惩罚费用之和最小.通过模糊变量和模糊等式定义的描述,简化了模型,并给出机会约束规划方法进行模型求解的整体步骤.通过仿真结果和灵敏度分析,表明模型和方法的有效性,并为决策者在模糊环境下的决策提供支持.     

Integrated markdown pricing and aggregate production planning in a two echelon supply chain: A hybrid fuzzy multiple objective approach

Given high variability of demands for short life cycle products, a retailer has to decide about the products’ prices and order quantities from a manufacturer. In the meantime, the manufacturer has to determine an aggregate production plan involving for example, production, inventory and work force levels in a multi period, multi product environment. Due to imprecise and fuzzy nature of products’ parameters such as unit production and replenishment costs, a hybrid fuzzy multi-objective programming model including both quantative and qualitative constraints and objectives is proposed to determine the optimalprice markdown policy and aggregate production planning in a two echelon supply chain. The model aims to maximize the total profit of manufacturer, the total profit of retailer and improving service aspects of retailing simultaneously. After applying appropriate strategies to defuzzify the original model, the equivalent multi-objective crisp model is then solved by a fuzzy goal programming method. An illustrative example is also provided to show the applicability and usefulness of the proposed model and solution method.     

基于交互式模糊规划方法的可持续闭环供应链网络规划

在市场需求、设施开设成本和产品回收率不确定的条件下,采用一种交互式可能性规划方法,研究由多个工厂、分销点、市场和废旧点构成的可持续闭环供应链网络设计问题。基于可持续闭环供应链网络结构,构建以企业运营成本和环境伤害最小、社会效益最大为目标的混合整数规划模型。同时,引入改进Epsilon约束方法将多目标优化问题转化为单目标优化问题,在此基础上提出一种两阶段可能性规划方法,基于TH模糊方法对不确定性参数进行处理。最后,通过数值实例,验证本文所建可持续闭环供应链网络模型的有效性,并对悲观-乐观值、不确定参数最低可接受水平β、可调参数γ进行敏感性分析;通过与其他模糊方法对比表明,采用TH模糊方法能得到稳定的最优解。     

基于SEC准则的油田开发规划不确定优化模型及算法

在油价低迷的国际背景下,上市石油公司进行油田开发规划时越来越重视经营效益。美国证券交易委员会(SEC)要求上市石油公司采用产量法计提折耗,极大地影响了石油公司开发规划方案的制定。油田开发受到自然、技术等多种不确定因素的影响,在制定开发规划时需充分考虑这些不确定性。本文基于不确定理论,考虑措施增油效果和新增投资两类不确定参数,以经营效益最大化和新增投资最小化为目标,构建了基于SEC准则的油田开发规划不确定优化模型,并利用差分进化算法求解,给出措施工作量的帕累托解集。本文以D油田年度规划为例,通过构建模型并求解,给出开发规划方案集,并进一步分析SEC储量的下降对上市石油公司经营效益、新增投资回报率、油气总产量、油气完全成本和措施工作量的影响,为企业制定开发规划方案提供参考。     

台商投资大陆区位选择影响因素的实证分析

台商对大陆投资区位选择受地区市场因素、集聚因素、劳动力因素及基础设施基本政策等因素的影响.研究利用1995年至2007年台商投资区位选择的面板数据,首先验证了台商投资区位选择受到经济规模、区域开放程度、台商集聚度、劳动成本等关键因素的影响;并在此基础上,采用变系数面板数据模型重点分析了影响因素的时变特征.主要结论包括:外贸依存度指标的变化表现了台商投资由向外出口产品的模式逐渐转向在国内市场销售的模式;区域资金配套能力表明台商企业近些年呈现了对当地资金配套的需求;集聚因素影响显著性极高,说明台资企业的集聚现象非常显著,这与当前实际发展情况相似;劳动力因素结果说明台商对于劳动力的关注已从劳动力成本向劳动力质量转变等等.这些因素的时变特征,对台商投资大陆区位选择的行为是具有较强的解释力度.     

Well management in the North Sea

The purpose of this paper is to describe a planning model for the management of approximately 130 petroleum-producing wells in the North Sea. The objective is to form a better basis for the decisions about which wells to produce from and which to shut down during a period. Every well is dealt with individually as the production potential and chemical composition are different. The total flow consists of six saleable components: gas, four NGL products, and oil. The production may be curtailed due to the capacities of the platforms, gathering centre, pipelines and refinery plants. The total gas production is available for fulfilling the gas contracts, injecting the gas into the reservoirs or using the gas as fuel. There exist contracts for some of the NGL products, while the rest of the NGL products and oil are sold on the free market. The well-management model is solved by means of a standard mathematical programming code, and computational results are given for a planning problem with four different data sets.     

DEA production games with fuzzy output prices

In DEA production models the technology is assumed to be implicit in the input-output data given by a set of recorded observations. DEA production games assess the benefits to different firms of pooling their resources and sharing their technology. The crisp version of this type of problems has been studied in the literature and methods to obtain stable solutions have been proposed. However, no solution approach exists when there is uncertainty in the unit output prices, a situation that can clearly occur in practice. This paper extends DEA production games to the case of fuzzy unit output prices. In that scenario the total revenue is uncertain and therefore the corresponding allocation among the players is also necessarily uncertain. A core-like solution concept is introduced for these fuzzy games, the Preference Least Core. The computational burden of obtaining allocations of the fuzzy total profit reached through cooperation that belong to the preference least core is high. However, the results presented in the paper permit us to compute the fuzzy total revenue obtained by the grand coalition and a fuzzy allocation in the preference least core by solving a single linear programming model. The application of the proposed approach is illustrated with the analysis of two cooperative production situations originated by data sets from the literature.     

Modeling fuzzy multi-period production planning and sourcing problem with credibility service levels

A great deal of research has been done on production planning and sourcing problems, most of which concern deterministic or stochastic demand and cost situations and single period systems. In this paper, we consider a new class of multi-period production planning and sourcing problem with credibility service levels, in which a manufacturer has a number of plants and subcontractors and has to meet the product demand according to the credibility service levels set by its customers. In the proposed problem, demands and costs are uncertain and assumed to be fuzzy variables with known possibility distributions. The objective of the problem is to minimize the total expected cost, including the expected value of the sum of the inventory holding and production cost in the planning horizon. Because the proposed problem is too complex to apply conventional optimization algorithms, we suggest an approximation approach (AA) to evaluate the objective function. After that, two algorithms are designed to solve the proposed production planning problem. The first is a PSO algorithm combining the AA, and the second is a hybrid PSO algorithm integrating the AA, neural network (NN) and PSO. Finally, one numerical example is provided to compare the effectiveness of the proposed two algorithms.     

Portfolio rebalancing model with transaction costs based on fuzzy decision theory

The fuzzy set is one of the powerful tools used to describe an uncertain environment. As well as quantifying any potential return and risk, portfolio liquidity is taken into account and a linear programming model for portfolio rebalancing with transaction costs is proposed. The level of return that an investor might aspire to, the risk and the liquidity of portfolio are vague in an uncertain financial environment. Considering them as fuzzy numbers, we propose a portfolio rebalancing model with transaction costs based on fuzzy decision theory. An example is given to illustrate the behavior of the proposed model using real data from the Shanghai Stock Exchange.     

Production planning for hybrid remanufacturing and manufacturing system with component recovery

In this paper, we address component recovery under the condition of limited resources from the OEM's (Original Equipment Manufacturer's) standpoint. We develop a linear programming model for a hybrid remanufacturing and manufacturing system for production planning problems with deterministic returns. In this paper, a data set from an OEM that both remanufactures and manufactures the products is used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed model. Subsequently, an analysis of the impact of the remanufactured product’s price and the quantity of returns on revenue and total cost will be discussed. We have found that uncertain factors of manufacturing influence the profit and uncertain factors of remanufacturing influence the production planning, such as the rate of the yield on component remanufacturing and the quantity of returns.